2014–2016 Chen Yufei did started playing in international level from the year 2013, being aged only 15. In 2014, she won the silver medal in the
Asian Junior Championships after being beaten by
Akane Yamaguchi in the final. She finished runner-up in the German Junior International event after being beaten by
Qin Jinjing in the final. In 2015, she reached the finals of the
China International but lost to
Nozomi Okuhara. Her first Grand Prix Gold final was at the
2015 Indonesia Masters, in which she reached the final after astounding several seeded players, but lost to her teammate
He Bingjiao. In 2016, she won the major junior titles, including the
Asian Junior Championships after beating
Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in a summit clash, and the
BWF World Junior Championships by beating
Pornpawee Chochuwong in the final.
2017 In 2017, Chen reached the final of the
Swiss Open and had to settle for second best after losing to the same opponent whom she defeated in Macau Open final in 2016, Chen Xiaoxin. In the
2017 BWF World Championships, the 19-year-old Chen participated as the 9th seed in the tournament. After defeating
Pai Yu-po, the lower ranked Chinese Taipei's player in the first round, she set her meeting with the top seeded Akane Yamaguchi. She bulldozed her way through with the 21–18, 21–19 victory and stunned the world. This was not over yet, in the quarter-final, she defeated another higher seeded player, the former world champion
Ratchanok Intanon in 3 games and assured herself of first ever medal in this elite event. However, in the semi-final, she lost to
P. V. Sindhu and had to satisfy herself with the bronze medal. With her strong performances, she got a ticket to contest in the year-ending
Dubai World Superseries Finals. In the group stage, she lost to
Tai Tzu-ying (1–2) but won against
Sung Ji-hyun (2–0) & Ratchanok Intanon (2–1) which meant she could confirm her place in the semifinal. But again, in the semi-finals, she lost to P. V. Sindhu in straight games.
2018 She contested in the
2018 German Open final but lost to
Akane Yamaguchi. She won the silver medal at the
2018 Badminton Asia Championships losing to
Tai Tzu-ying in straight games. She fell to her 9th consecutive defeat against Tai Tzu-ying in the final of the
Indonesia Open, in which she took the opening game but \wasn't sufficient to beat Tai and lost the next two. In the
World Championships, she failed to cross the quarter-final after being downed by Akane Yamaguchi, a player Chen defeated last year in straight games. Akane Yamaguchi again proved difficult for Chen to crack, this time at the
Asian games where she lost to her in quarter-finals. In her second Super 1000 final at the
China Open, which is the highest level of World tour events in badminton, she lost to the reigning world champion,
Carolina Marín, in straight games. At the
2018 Fuzhou China Open, a Super 750 event, she finally broke her jinx of losing in the finals after defeating
Nozomi Okuhara tamely with 21–10, 21–16, and thus winning her first ever World tour title. She again qualified for taking part in the season-ending championships, this time renamed as the "
World Tour Finals", which was held in her home country China. In the 1st match of the group stage against
Ratchanok Intanon, she injured herself in the deciding game and lost the match. She wasn't recovered from that yet but she played the 2nd match against the Canadian
Michelle Li & again lost. In the final group match, she twisted her ankle in the very early stage of 1st game which forced her to retire and her overall campaign ended.
2019 2019 proved the best ever year in Chen Yufei's career as she earned multiple titles and honour of becoming the most dominant player of 2019 in her category. Starting with the
2019 All England Open, she defeated
Tai Tzu-ying in the final, a player she struggled to beat in her last 11 encounters. Chen finally broke that jinx and won her first super 1000 title. After that, she won the
Swiss Open title following her win against
Saena Kawakami in the final clash. She competed in the
2019 Badminton Asia Championships as a top seed after defending champion Tai withdrew from the tournament. She made her way to the semifinal and was discomfited by
Akane Yamaguchi (1–2), thus claiming the bronze medal. In the
2019 Sudirman Cup, she helped her team to win the record-breaking 11th title, in which she scored a point by defeating Akane Yamaguchi, and eventually Japan was crushed in the final with 3–0 tally by China. Her best form wasn't dipped yet, as she claimed the next title in the
Australian Open by totally outplaying
Nozomi Okuhara in the final with a very one-sided scoreline 21–15, 21–3. She claimed the
Thailand Open title victory by winning against
Ratchanok Intanon. With all her success in 1st half of the year, she was considered as China's best contender for gold in
2019 BWF World Championships in her category. She started well, winning against
Pornpawee Chochuwong in round 1,
Michelle Li in 2nd round in 3 games. In the quarter-final, she was tested severely by Danish
Mia Blichfeldt who once appeared to create an upset by leading 15–12 against her in the decider, but Chen's persistence led her way to the victory and assured her of second medal in this Grade 1 event. In the semifinal her opponent was
P. V. Sindhu who had outplayed her in the 2017 World Championships. Chen again proved low against Sindhu in World Championships and was defeated with a big margin 7–21, 14–21. Thus, she again settled for a bronze medal. Leaving her disappointments, she returned very strong and again won series of titles. She won the
2019 Fuzhou China Open again, by beating the same opponent from the last year, Nozomi Okuhara, but this time with tougher opposition. After beating Ratchanok Intanon in the final, she won her 6th World tour title by winning the
Hong Kong open. Going into the
2019 BWF World Tour Finals as the best title winning contender, in the group stage, she downed all her opponents P. V. Sindhu (2–1), Akane Yamaguchi (2–0) and
He Bingjiao (2–0) to reach the semifinal. She was drawn with Yamaguchi yet again and she displayed a very dominant performance to reach the final. In the final, she showed a great fighting spirit to beat Tai Tzu-ying after being a game down and won the title 12–21, 21–12, 21–17. With her emphatic 7 titles in the year, she became another player from China to become World no. 1 player, as the last time China had the World's top player in Women's singles was in 2015 (
Li Xuerui).
2020–2021 Reaching the final yet again, this time at the
2020 Malaysia Masters, she maintained her unbeaten record at the finals since 2018 Fuzhou China Open, and outgunned
Tai Tzu-ying for the title in straight games. She reached her second consecutive
2020 All England Open final and faced opposition from the same rival of last year, Tai Tzu-ying. This time she suffered defeat, and was dethroned from the World no. 1 position. Chen competed at the
2020 Summer Olympics as the number one seed in the women's singles. In the final, she beat
Tai Tzu-ying in an extremely intense match 21–18, 19–21, 21–18 to win the gold medal.
2022 Chen won the
Indonesia Masters in June, defeating
Ratchanok Intanon in the final in three games. However, she lost seven finals during this season, including a
World Championship loss to
Akane Yamaguchi during her career's first final in that event, However, due to her seven final appearances in the World Tour, she qualified for the
World Tour Finals as the first seed. Although she suffered a surprise loss against
Gregoria Mariska Tunjung, she beat
Akane Yamaguchi after 5 straight losses and
An Se-young to top the group. However, she could not replicate her group stage performance in the semi-finals, as she lost to
Akane Yamaguchi in straight games.
2023 Chen reached the final of the
All England Open but lost to
An Se-young in a tight three-game battle. She suffered the same fate against An in
Asian Championships in Dubai, losing in semifinals and bringing back another bronze. Later, she did flipped the script by helping the national team defend the
Sudirman Cup title at home soil after delivering the final win against An Se-young in straight games. In June's
Indonesia Open, she defeated another Olympic champion
Carolina Marin in straight games to win her first title since last year's
Indonesia Masters. She participated at the
World Championships but could only settle for a bronze medal as she was defeated by
An Se-young in straight games. After helping the national team to win a silver medal at the
women's team event at the delayed 2022 Asian Games, she was defeated by An in the final of the
singles event in three games, earning another silver medal. Chen continued that great form for another week by snatching the
French Open title against Tai Tzu-ying. In November, Chen lost the final of the inaugural edition of
Japan Masters at the hands of Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in straight sets. The next week, she redeemed herself in
China Masters against
Han Yue where the final went to the rubber in which Han had to retire due to leg injury.
2024 Chen's first final in the season is in
India Open where she lost against Tai Tzu-ying in straight sets. Chen also lost the second final of
Asian Championships in her career to her junior compatriot,
Wang Zhiyi this time around. In April, Chen helped China to regain the
Uber Cup title after losing it back in 2022. Chen continued her losing streak for the world tour this year in
Singapore Open in the hands of An Se-young but she ended the streak by winning the
Indonesia Open, also against An. Going into Olympics, Chen coming in as the reigning champion and won all her matches in group stage. She got a bye in the next round but later fallen short to He Bingjiao in quarter finals, thus failed to defend her crown. After Chen's defeat in the quarter-finals of the
2024 Olympic Games, she made the decision to take a break from competitive badminton. During her time away, she spent 10 weeks in Australia studying English and regained her motivation.
2025 She made a comeback in the international stage at the
2025 Asia Mixed Team Championships and helps China team won the silver medal. Chen reached the final in the
Orléans Masters and quarter-finals in the
All England Open losing the match to
An Se-young in both occasion. Chen won her first title of the year in the
Swiss Open. She finally won the
Asian Championships title beating Han Yue in the final. Chen continuing her uprising form since comeback by winning the
2025 Thailand Open against home favourite and number 1 seed,
Pornpawee Chochuwong. Two weeks later, Chen prevailed in
2025 Singapore Open, over Wang Zhiyi in straight sets. In July, Chen got knocked out by An in the quarterfinals for two successive tournaments (
Japan Open and
China Open) but her luck changed the next week when she won
2025 Macau Open, nine years after she won it first time back in 2016. In the
2025 BWF World Championships, Chen managed to surpass An in the semi finals in the grueling three games match. Unfortunately, she battled through injury for that win which causing herself to struggle in the final against Akane and ended up losing the match, repeating the feat in 2022. She continued for third straight weeks in January in which she won the
Indonesia Masters against
Pitchamon Opatniputh. == Achievements ==